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My family lives LD from me, so I've been traveling with DD since she was 6 weeks old. Car travel is way harder than air travel, but both are pretty manageable. And once you're there it's not too different from parenting at home--Baby sleeps and eats a lot, just on the beach instead of the couch. I would do it!

The only thing I would consider with a child that young is vaccinations...would you have the required ones done on time? If I recall, there was a set that was needed at 4 months, but this was a good 5 years ago for my son now and it may be different.

Additionally, you don't know how the baby is going to be fed. I had totally planned on nursing, but supply issues created a ton of problems so we had to use formula....if that's the case, how do you feel about the water?

Honestly, I think a trip like that will be tough. A baby that young can't get a lot of sun exposure or chlorine exposure, and sunscreen should be extremely limited. So the beach and pool will be tough. And even hanging out on the balcony, you have to make sure baby is covered at all times.

I would not do it, but that's based on my own experiences. My LO1 ended up with so many dietary sensitivities that I couldn't eat at a restaurant for a full year while I was BFing her. Plus her sleep from 3 to 5 months was so bad that I really consider those months to be some of the darker times of my life. 3.5 months can be easy or tough, depending on your baby, and it's impossible to predict. My LO1 was sleeping in 2 hr stretches at that point and I would have been just as miserable on a vacation as I was at home. My LO2 is a much better sleeper (he is 3 months now and can do an 8 hr stretch at times), but he just went through a sleep regression last week where he was waking every 2-3 hrs. Plus neither of my kids sleep/slept well on flat surfaces like a pack n play as little babies.

That said, if you are a more go-with-the-flow type of person than I am (or better with sleep deprivation, or think your baby will be a good sleeper), than it sounds like a nice trip, and babies that age are certainly more portable than they are as they get older.

Do it! We flew from Colorado to Florida for a week in the Keys when LO1 was 8 weeks and it was great! Flying was (relatively) easy since he was just interested in eating and sleeping and keeping him covered and out of the sun was much easier than I had anticipated.
Honestly, I miss flying with an infant when compared to flying with toddlers... And those two years where they ride free as lap infants go fast. Take advantage!

I feel like the younger they are, the easier! It will depend how you are feeding the baby; if you just breastfeed, then it's easy! I'd get LO used to taking naps in a carrier/wrap so you can just baby wear.

I'd definitely do it. Not to scare you, but I'd say travel gets much much harder between 1 year to 3 years. Totally doable, but just harder (infants require you to bring more stuff, but toddlers require...more of you). So I'd do as much as you can while your LO is little. Flying just gets harder, the logistics of finding a place a kitchen and meals are a little more important as they get older, they are more mobile so taking that into consideration when finding baby-friendly spaces is just another layer. And jet lag is seriously a bitch as they get older.
That said, we still travel a bit with our LO who is 2. We go skiing twice a year (cross country flight), we've been to the carribean several times, we do long 8 hour + road trips to the beach. But we've stopped our ski trips to europe for now. Jet lag + skiing and a over tired kid just doesn't sound fun.

Even though its not advised, I'd bring the least harmful baby sunscreen you can find with you. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, reflected sun is inevitable in those places, and a little sunscreen and no burn is better than no sunscreen and a burn.

We had our first flights when my son was four months. I was nervous but they went great, both ways! Each way was about 3.5-4 hours. No tears at all. He mostly nursed and napped. One thing that I found extremely helpful was bringing the boppy. That saved my arms and gave him somewhere to lie on. I just shoved it in my carryon. It took up most of it, but I had the diaper bag as my extra carryon item (instead of a purse) so I still had everything we needed for the baby plus some magazines and my kindle.

I think as long as your expectations are low, which it sounds like they are, go for it! We took our 4 month old to England for 10 days and it was much easier than I'd thought it would be.

Not to be negative, but I would purchase travel insurance so that if something unexpected happens you can reschedule or get your money back. Maybe you do that already, though!

@annem1990: I'm in the "go for it" camp! I've never done a beach vacation with DS (we always do city vacations), but we also love to travel, and having kids has not stopped us from traveling just as much as we did before kids. In fact, in a way it's made our trips even more fun - it's great to see different places through our son's eyes. He's 4 now, and we did our first international trip with him at 5 months. Our next challenge will be trips with two, since we have a newborn now - looking forward to that!

We did a 2 week trip with our 8.5 month old and it was great. We could have done it earlier without a problem. As long as you have low expectations about sleep and activities I vote go for it. If you could wait a few months I would do that. I feel like a routine and travel is easier once baby can sit/eat some pouches.

As an experienced traveled who actually lived in Costa Rica for a semester, I think you can totally do this.

On travel with babies: Honestly, I think 3.5 months is a pretty easy time to travel with a baby. You're hopefully past the crazy new "oh my god I have a baby" phase. If you're breastfeeding (which is much easier if you plan to travel) then it's usually a lot easier at that point. And if you're unlucky enough to have a baby with colic, it would hopefully be resolved by that point. Night sleeping stretches hopefully stretching out (but this is pretty variable). But they're still napping a lot and not mobile

We took my son to Ft Lauderdale when he was 2 months and to Tampa when he was 5 months and they both went great. We did a lot of laying by the pool, walking on the beach, doing stuff we like to do (zoos, food tour, etc), going out to eat. You definitely can't do as much, and need to be more flexible, but it's totally manageable. You just need to have reasonable expectations. Our son napped really well in his stroller or in his carrier at that age. And even if we were still going through rough parenting stuff, I figured at least we were doing it somewhere fun. If you can have a good vacation just hanging out, taking care of your baby, wherever you are, then I think you'll be set.

I highly recommend a good carrier, a good UV protective sun hat and a long sleeve/long leg UV swim suit (and cloth swim diaper)

On travel to Costa Rica: Look into vaccines and if you can get what you need by that time. Talk to your pedi, they may be able/willing to do an alternate vaccine schedule, if needed. Most of Costa Rica is pretty safe and the water is generally safe to drink. Their healthcare is also pretty good and it's nationalized (I had to take my mom to the ER when she came to visit). There is a huge tourism industry, so lots of good options. Have you thought about where, specifically you want to go? One thing I will say is that a lot of the roads in CR are pretty rough. Once you get off the PanAmerican Highway that runs N/S you're often on dirt roads that wash out. So, if you're going to rent a car, DEFINITELY get 4 wheel drive and bring your own car seat and be sure you know how to install it properly. And get a GPS (most of the car rental places have them) because the signage is awful. On the plus side, the people are generally very friendly to tourists, so you can always ask for help if you get lost.

Hope you have fun and feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

@annem1990: Manuel Antonio will be a great option! It's a fairly small park (by CR standards) but it's the most popular among locals. This is where most Ticos (Costa Ricans) go to vacation. Lots of great things to see in the park and a small but bustling town around it. I saw more sloths in one day in Manuel Antonio than I saw in the other three months I was in Costa Rica combined! And look into a night hike. A night hike is one of my favorite things to do!

You can definitely get away with not having a car if you'd prefer to just shuttle from San Jose (though you'll still need to bring your car seat). Though you could probably handle a car, if you want. There's a good road that runs along the Pacific coast, so you'd be on good roads almost the whole way between San Jose and Manuel Antonio. It's more the central mountain regions that are hard to navigate. But it's also cheaper, to shuttle and not rent a car, so that's another benefit. Just be sure to stay relatively close to the park. There are a bunch of restaurants and some shops in walkable distance. And several nice beaches.

For day trips, the closest city is Quepos. A bit farther north is Jaco which has a very surfer dude vibe, or south is Dominical. really, it's hard to find a place in CR that isn't nice to visit!

I'm sitting here debating about a stroller. My first instinct was to just ditch the stroller and take a good carrier. But I know how much I appreciated being able to let my son sleep in his stroller when he was little, so I might take it. But only if it's a sturdy kind that can handle rough terrain. Wouldn't need to be super intense, but I wouldn't want to take an umbrella stroller, if you know what I mean. Most places won't have paved sidewalks, but packed dirt paths. So also think about if you'll be going during rainy season (I actually like rainy season) because things will be more muddy.

The thing for me is I like to enjoy my vacations and with babies, there is very little relaxation and quite a bit more stress. We went with a 6mo to Cape Cod and it was hard and pretty unenjoyable. We are trying again and going to Florida with our 15 month old soon and I don't see it as a good time for me as much as an "experience" for him.

I would! I'm pretty flexible with my kids - I make sure thy sleep and nap on time but I'll adjust if we are out (he's really good at napping on me). Flying is so much easier when they're that little. It's harder when they're mobile. I travelled extensively w my first and it was awesome. Got harder when she was 2ish and developed opinions and thought everything was "boring" and whined constantly

As soon as vaccines are taken care of, I would have no qualms!